Originalarbeiten Originals

Holz als Roh- und Werkstoff 57 (1999) 114116 Springer-Verlag 1999

Performance test of Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) from rubber wood

for different physical and mechanical properties
B. S. Kamala, P. Kumar, R. V. Rao, S. N. Sharma

114

difcult to match the versatility and intrinsic properties of

wood as a natural engineering material. Due to depletion
of forest resources there is a shortage of wood required by
the industry. Therefore, in this difcult position, it is
necessary to conserve wood from forests and alternative
sources of wood, raw material from plantation timbers
may to some extent meet the demand for industrial wood.
With the development of the wood composite technology
it is possible to use small girth logs in the form of modied, particle or layered composites. Particleboard and
MDF are the main types of particle components and can be
substituted for wood only for certain end uses and cannot
Furnierschichtholz (LVL) aus Gummibaumholz:
be considered a total substitute for wood for all purposes
Prufung verschiedener physikalischer und
because of certain inherent limitations (Jagadish 1991).
mechanischer Eigenschaften
The layered composite materials like vertically and horiFurnierschichtholz wurde hergestellt aus dem Holz von
Hevea brasiliensis (Gummibaum), welches in Plantagen in zontally glued, laminated wood and Laminated Veneer
Indien wuchs und vorwiegend zur Gewinnung von Latex Lumber (LVL) may be used as substitute for solid wood as
they retain the structural properties of wood. Veneers
diente. Bestimmten Normen folgend wurde es auf seine
obtained from medium or small diameter logs are conFestigkeit und andere Eigenschaften uberpruft. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, da dieses Furnierschichtholz in seinen verted into glued parallel laminates or Laminated Veneer
Lumber (LVL) which has all the properties of thick
physikalischen Eigenschaften mit Teakholz vergleichbar
wooden planks and it is a useful product for structural
ist. Daruberhinaus bestand es die Haftfahigkeitsprufung
und den Delaminierungsresistenztest. Die Festigkeit von purpose. In advanced countries LVL is practically proHevea barsiliensis Furnierschichtholz entspricht derjeni- duced of any length by the continuous laminating techgen von Gumariholz, Poon, Lakooch und Benteak, welche nique (Jagadish 1991). It can safely be treated as solid
sowohl als Tur- und Fensterrahmen, als auch als Boden- wood, even with certain advantages over the same, i.e.
higher design strength and availability in larger dimenbelag und als Teile von Transportfahrzeugen verwendet
sions. Cooling and Falk (1991) produced beams of a length
werden. Es ist resistent gegen Weifaule und kann als
of 4 to 6 m by the continuous laminating technique from
widerstandsfahig bezeichnet werden.
LVL. However, a lot of data are not available on strength
properties of LVL in general and on those made from
1
plantation grown species of India in particular.
Introduction
Hevea brasiliensis (rubber wood) is extensively planted
Solid wood is an important source of raw material for
in India for the production and tapping of latex.
various end uses in the wood industry like low raise
The trees are felled after 3035 years when production
construction, rural housing, framework and scaffolding,
packaging, bullock carts and agricultural implements etc. of latex becomes uneconomical. The solid wood obtained
from these trees is used for a variety of purposes. It is
Wood is still considered indispensable inspite of many
substitute materials like iron, steel, concrete and plastic. abundantly available and supplies are expected to last for
These substitutes have not always been successful as it is another 23 decades. Besides its use as solid wood, efforts were also made to manufacture LVL from this
wood.
For this investigation, LVL manufactured by a private
B.S. Kamala, P. Kumar, R.V. Rao
company
was tested for strength and other properties and
Wood Properties and Uses Division,
evaluated results are presented in this paper.
Istitute of Wood Science and Technology,
Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) made from plantation
grown rubber wood was tested for strength and other
properties following different standards. Results indicate
that LVL of rubber wood can be compared with teak in
many properties and also passed adhesion of plies and
resistance to delamination test. LVL has got strength
properties equivalent to that of gamari, poon, lakooch,
benteak which are used as door and window frames,
ooring and transport vehicles. Further it is resistant
against wood rot fungi and comes under ``Resistant class''.

Malleswaram, Bangalore-560003, India

S.N. Sharma
Deemed University,
Forest Research Institute,
Dehra Dun 248 006, India

2
Materials and methods
Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) made from rubber wood
veneer treated with xed types of preservatives, dried

3.2
Block shear test
The block shear strength test as per IS 1734 (part-V)-1983
(test method for plywood ) was specically designed for
plywood, where the grain of the adjoining veneer layers are
perpendicular to each other, whereas in LVL the grain of
all the veneer layers are unidirectional. Hence the test
method for plywood is not applicable to LVL. Therefore,
the block shear test was conducted as per ASTM D 311072(1974), ``Specication for adhesives used in glued lumber products'' (lumber joints).
Results on samples of the block shear test are given in
Table 2 along with those of solid rubber wood taken for
comparison.
All the LVL samples passed the test as per the requirement specied in ASTM D 3110-72(1974), i.e. 60% of
wood failure and 60% of shear strength. The samples actually showed higher values.
The average shear strength percentage of rubber wood
attained by LVL samples comes close to the minimum
3
required as per ASTM D 3110-72(1974). Also, Table 2
Results and discussion
shows that shear strength of LVL comes close to the shear
strength of solid rubber wood.
3.1
No Indian standard species is available for comparison
Strength properties
Multilayered (17 plies) LVL made from tested rubber wood due to lack of data. Block shear tests described in BIS
9188-1979 refer only to the species of hollong and gurjan.
following different procedures as mentioned above are
presented in Tables 1 and 2. In Table 1 the physical and
mechanical properties of LVL are given along with values 3.3
Adhesion of plies
of teak for comparison.
As shown in Table 1, strength properties of LVL from (i) Dry condition: In over 95% of the attached surfaces the
bres of the test samples cohered with a barely visible glue
rubber wood compare favourably with those of Tectona
grandis (teak), a favoured structural timber approved for line. To seperate these veneers, more force was required.
(ii) After 72 hours boiling in water (water resistance),
doors and windows as per IS 12896-1990. Also, the specic
the bres cohered very closely over 7080% of the surface.
gravity, moisture content and strength values of LVL in
Considerable force was required to separate glued veneer
Table 1 tally with the values recommended by Central
layers with the knife. It was difcult to nd the glue line.
Pubic Works Department in India (CPWD IS:-1994).
and bonded together with BWP Phenol Formaldehyde
synthetic resin adhesive at high temperature and
pressure, having grains of all the veneers in one direction
(Anon 1993) was received from a private company for
testing.
Different types of tests for moisture content, shrinkage,
density, static bending, compression strength parallel and
perpendicular to grain (parallel and perpendicular to glue
line), as well as shear parallel and perpendicular to glue
line, tension parallel to glue line, screw and nail holding
properties parallel and perpendicular to glue line, were
carried out as per the procedure given in the Bureau of
Indian Standard IS 1708(1986). The block shear test was
conducted according to the procedure described in ASTM
D 3110-72(1974). Other tests carried out were the adhesion
of plies test as per IS 1734 part V(1983) and the resistance
to delamination test by the method described in the Bureau of Indian Standard IS 9188(1979).

Table 1. Physical and mechanical properties of LVL

from rubber wood along with
the properties of solid teak
wood
Tabelle 1. Physikalische und
mechanische Eigenschaften
von LVL aus Gummibaumholz
im Vergleich mit Teakholz

Properties
Specic gravity
Moisture content
Volumetric shrinkage
Static bending:
(i) Modulus of rupture [kg/cm2]
(ii) Modulus of elasticity [1000 kg/cm2]
Compression parallel to grain:
Maximum crushing stress [kg/cm2]
Compression perpendicular to grain:
[Compressive stress at E.L. kg/cm2]
(i) Parallel to glue line
(ii) Perpendicular to glue line
Shear parallel to grain [kg/cm2]
(i) Parallel to glue line
(ii) Perpendicular to glue line
Tension parallel to glue line
Screw holding power [kg]
(i) Parallel to glue line
(ii) Perpendicular to glue line
Nail holding power [kg]
(i) Parallel to glue line
(ii) Perpendicular to glue line

Values of LVL
0.718
12.5%
4.16%

Values of teak
0.604
12%
6.9%

877
94

665
91

483

411

104
102

83

94
105
79

76
92

388
473

235
260

115

Table 2. Block shear test on LVL samples from rubber wood

along with solid rubber wood for comparison
Tabelle 2. Scherfestigkeit von LVL aus Gummibaumholz im
Vergleich mit dem entsprechenden Holz

116

Properties

Requirement as per
ASTM D 3110-72

Test results

Block shear stress [kg/cm2]

Percentage of wood failure
Percent of shear
Shear stress of solid
rubber wood [kg/cm2]

105
97
93
113.6

60 (Passed)
60 (Passed)

All the LVL samples have passed the water resistance

test as per IS 1734 (part-V) 1983 for the adhesion of plies
both in dry condition and after 72 hours boiling in water.
Water resistence test according to IS 1734 (part-V) 1983.

3.4
Resistance to delamination
Resistance to delamination was determined in cyclic tests
for LVL samples according to IS 9188-1979. The samples
have passed the resistance to delamination test as per the
specication. The delamination of the samples did not
exceed 5% as per the specication.
4
Conclusions
The study indicates that LVL from rubber wood can safely
be treated as solid wood with certain advantages over
wood, i.e. design strength and availability in larger dimensions.
The strength properties of LVL are almost equivalent to
solid wood like Artocarpus lakoocha (lakooch), Calophyllum elatum (poon), Cedrus deodar (deodar), Gmelina arborea (gamari), Lagerstroemia lanceolata (benteak),
Palaquium ellipticum (pali) and Tectona grandis (teak)
which are already in use for door and window compo-

nents, transport vehicles and ooring. Furthermore, based

on accelerated laboratory tests conducted in this Institute
on this particular product, it was found to be resistant
against wood rot fungi and ranks among the ``Resistant
class'' (Ananthapadmanabha and Nagaveni 1997).
LVL from narrow and low grade veneers is ideal for
door and window components, ooring and transport
vehicles and many other applications where good grade
solid wood is required.

References

Ananthapadmanabha HS, Nagaveni HC (1997) Evaluation of

Rubber wood Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) for durability
against wood rotting fungi Wood News 6(4): 3334
Anon (1974) Annual book of ASTM Standards Part. 22 Wood:
Adhesives Standard specication for adhesives used in nonstructural Glued Lumber Products ASTM D 311072
Anon (1979) Performance requirements for adhesives for structural laminated wood products for use under exterior conditions.
Bureau of Indian Standards. IS: 9188
Anon (1983) Methods of tests for plywood. Bureau of Indian
standards. IS: 1734 Part V and VI
Anon (1986) Methods of testing small clear specimens of timber.
Bureau of Indian Standards. IS: 1708
Anon (1990) Classication of Indian Timbers for doors and
window frames. Bureau of Indian Standards. IS: 12896
Anon (1993) Timber plus Laminated Veneer Lumber. Wood
News, 3(3): 3334
Anon (1994) Specication for laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and
ventilator shutter and frames. Developed by technology applications development cell Central design organisation. C.P.W.D.
NEW DELHI. CPWD. TADB. 15
Cooling F, Falk RH (1993) Investigation of laminating effects in
Glued Laminating timber. In CIB. W 18. Proceedings of 26th
meeting: International council for building research studies and
documentation. Working commission W 18-Timber structures;
August Athens. GA
Jagadish HN (1991) The future of wood in the eld of materials
and the strategy for wood as a material (Not as a fuel).
National Workshop on ``The future of wood in the world
of materials''. National Material Policy Project, July 1991,
Bangalore, 132